Indian-Run Pharma Plant In Ukraine Destroyed In Russian Drone Attacks, 1 Killed

A massive pharma plant in Ukraine that belongs to India's Kusum group came under attack by Russian drones, killing one and leaving several injured.

The main structure of the pharma plant in Ukraine's Sumy has been mostly destroyed. The casualties and the number of injured may change, officials said.

Visuals of the attack showed a huge plume of smoke coming from the area where the drones struck.

The Kusum group started in 1994 as a distributor exporting Indian medicines to Ukraine. It is currently run by Indian national Rajeev Gupta.

In 2002, it stopped distributing other companies' products and began marketing its own brands. It then moved into manufacturing, opening plants in India in 2007 and in Ukraine's Sumy in 2009, followed by two more Indian facilities.

The group makes over 50 mostly generic products and sells them in more than nine countries, chiefly Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and the Philippines.

The Sumy plant continued to operate throughout the years of the Russia-Ukraine war but has now been badly impacted. The loss is estimated to be at least Rs 400 crore. The Kusum group describes itself as a Ukrainian company with Indian roots.

Since the summer, Moscow has launched dozens of fast and relatively cheap jet-powered Shahed drones daily in Ukraine, whose air defence teams have struggled because interceptor drones were too slow to catch them.

Ukraine also announced the first combat use this week of its domestically made ballistic missile, the FP-7, which has a range of approximately 250 km.